Bad Company

On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha and Abagtha, Zethar and Carkas, the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus, to bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal crown, in order to show the peoples and the princes her beauty, for she was lovely to look at. But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command delivered by the eunuchs. At this the king became enraged, and his anger burned within him.

A great mistake that a drunken king made. Ahasuerus, a man of great wealth but with much insecurity, not only finds himself drunken from the many-day feasts he has thrown in his palace. Now, he finds himself able to show off all his luxury and power. In the king's drunkenness, he calls for his wife, and for whatever reason, the wife does not respond; he becomes raged, angered, and influenced by the people he is around. 

Be careful who you are around. Your friends will help guide your many poor choices. For the king, the guidance that he got was, “Do away with her,” for if all the other women find out what the queen did, they are all going to do the same, which was their drunken thinking. Therefore, in the middle of the council, the king takes the advice, only to find himself awake and missing his queen the next day.

Alcohol, lousy company, pride, and stubbornness have broken not just marriages but, in its decisiveness, many homes. What starts as a good time, as it did for the king, turns into a drunken party with many poor choices and disrespect, only for the individual to wake up the next morning to ask, “What happened?” with a trail of bad choices and hurting loved ones through insults that cannot be taken back. 

Enjoy the bride of your youth, we are stated. Eat, drink, and enjoy your wife. Enjoy the fruit of your labor. These are all verses from the Preacher in the Old Testament of how a man should conduct himself on his time off and in whom presence a man should enjoy himself in his life. Church, be careful of the people you are around when indulging in alcohol—Be cautious of the people you have around you in your life.